On December 6, 2012, Premier of the State Council Wen Jiabao and Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev co-chaired in Moscow the 17th regular meeting between Chinese and Russian prime ministers. Attending both large group and small group meetings, the two leaders were briefed by three cooperation mechanisms—the Committee of China-Russia Prime Ministers' Regular Meeting, China-Russia Energy Negotiation and the China-Russia Committee on Humanities Cooperation—on their respective work. Chinese Vice Premier Wang Qishan, State Councilor Liu Yandong, and Russia's Deputy Prime Ministers Olga Golodets, Arkady Dvorkovich, and Dmitry Rogozin attended the meetings.

Wen said, over the past 10 years, the mechanism of regular meetings between the two countries' heads of government has worked efficiently and helped the two nations score a series of important achievements in bilateral practical cooperation: China and Russia have become the major trade partner for each other; a number of important projects such as the crude oil pipeline and Tianwan Nuclear Power Plant have been successfully completed; high-tech cooperation in aviation, aerospace technology, nanotechnology, and new materials has gained momentum; a number of cross-boundary infrastructure projects have been built; direct yuan-ruble trading has been operationalized; and large-scale cultural activities including years of China in Russia, years of Russia in China, years of the Chinese and Russian language in the other country, and years of Russian tourism have been held.

Wen said currently the international and regional situation is undergoing complex and profound changes and the world economy is faced with greater downward pressure. Under such circumstances, China and Russia need to work more closely to meet challenges, boost their respective development and conduct close coordination in multilateral areas in a bid to safeguard their common interests. The two countries should continue to approach bilateral relations from an overall strategic perspective, maintain important mechanisms such as regular prime ministers' meeting, and make concerted efforts to bring a broader prospect for China-Russia friendly cooperation.

Wen came up with a number of proposals to further boost cooperation between China and Russia: Firstly, expanding two-way trade between the two nations so as to reach the 2015 target volume of $100 billion at an earlier date; secondly, advancing all-round cooperation in energy so as to safeguard energy security of the two countries and promote sustainable development; thirdly, expanding cooperation in such key areas as investment, deep processing, high-tech and innovation, and promoting cooperation on major strategic projects featuring joint research and development and joint production in the areas of aeronautics and astronautics; fourthly, taking full advantage of the mechanism of regular meetings of local leaders so as to boost regional cooperation between the two countries; fifthly, giving free play to market mechanisms and lending support and convenience to enterprises on policy and management levels; sixthly, further expanding cultural exchanges and, in particular, holding a successful China Tourism Year in Russia, and implementing the 10-year program on future cultural cooperation; seventhly, taking an active part in global economic governance so as to push through reforms in the international economic and financial system.

Echoing Wen's proposals and appraisal of the bilateral relations, Medvedev said that the two countries have worked hard over the past 10 years and scored comprehensive and significant progress in their increasingly strategic relations, which has proven a boost to their growth and contributed greatly to world peace, stability, and development. Russia-China relations, which are in their best-ever shape, can be cited as a fine example of new-type relations between responsible powers. He said that the current meeting yielded substantial results, which will give fresh impetus to the development of bilateral ties. Medvedev added that Russia is ready to join efforts with China to strengthen high-level exchanges and strategic cooperation, continue to take advantage of cooperation mechanisms like the regular prime ministers’ meeting, expand cooperation in trade, energy, aeronautics and astronautics, and transportation, vigorously promote investment and high-tech cooperation, and boost youth exchanges and cooperation in tourism and education, so as to enrich the strategic connotation of the bilateral relationship and place it on a track for greater achievements.

The two signed the Joint Communique of the 17th Regular China-Russia Prime Ministers' Meeting, attended the signing of a number of bilateral cooperative documents, and jointly met with reporters.